Posts Tagged ‘ Entertainment

Music Board Of Ireland

Here’s a great documentary about the Irish music industry made by Manina Films. Made in late 2005, early 2006 about the Music Board Of Ireland which was set up by the government in partnership with the music industry through IBEC to promote and support contemporary Irish music in 2001. It was disbanded (pun intended) in 2004 having accomplished little if anything. The idea was good but it was not a priority for the government.

This was in a sense banished to the web as it could not be shown in it’s entirety because of it’s critical angle of government policy in the area of support for young Irish bands. Comparisons are made to funding giving for others areas in the Arts and in Sport (which is handled by the same government department – I never quite got that one!).

There is a point made by Jim Carroll that the government is more interested in entertaining the National Concert Hall punters (can you call them that?) than the regular young gig goers and young musicians, as the former are more likely to vote. This is a fair point, but a worrying one. There are a lot of young people apathetic to politics in this country and this is a shame. Ultimately then, when complaints are made about the “state of the nation” the apathetic are the ones to blame. Vote not just for the Battle of the Bands, vote for (or against) bigger things.

Thanks to Nialler9 for bringing this to my attention on his blog.

Here are some words from Lindsey, the director of the film, to lead you in :

After failing to get this documentary seen by the general public I’ve finally put it up on the Internet. It’s amazing how much control someone in power has. I was warned that by showing a certain individual in a bad light then I would be shooting myself in the foot because my film would not be accepted into film festivals or shown on TV. The Last Broadcast on RTE showed part of my film but refused to air the entirety, omitting the scene with this particular individual.
I felt that the film would not prove the point I was trying to make if I left the scene out so I made the decision to keep it. Unfortunately I underestimated how much fear people have for this man. The power that he holds over funding for arts makes sure that he can maintain a good image.
The only place my film was actually seen in its whole was in Wales where it was a runner up in the Screen Academy Wales student awards.
Anyway… here it is!

Roll it there Roisin!

All hail the Deacon, Dan….

hail dan

Wow, what can I say. “Blown away” would be a could place to start in attempting to describe the experience of a Dan Deacon gig.
I had heard some of his music a few months back and couldn’t get enough of it. I missed the show he piut on last time he was in town but was sure to get myself on down to Whelans on Wexford St to witness one of these spectacular shows. Your Only Massive did a great warm up for Dan and got the crowd to shake their cool away in reference to people who are “too cool” to dance. Luckily I had located mysself on the balcony so was kinda excused! It’s not that I don’t dance, it just well, you know… I’ve gotta be really into it or someone on the dancefloor! Anyway I wished I was down there in the thick of it for this gig. It was fantastic. It was great to see a level of crowd interaction with and artist like this, it is certainly something new and unique. Dan inspires you to get on down, have a laugh and be part of a crowd. He sets up on the floor as opposed to the stage and gets people to get in close. He controls all the lighting for his set-up and the lighting is about as basic as it gets. A glow in the dark skull and a spotlight that are synced with the music provide all the light needed and also create the atmosphere to keep the crowd engaged.

So here I present to you a little video clip of the night. It is ten minute quick cut of Dan Deacon’s amazing show in Dublin on December 2nd 2007. The audio quality is awful from the digital camera i was using so please don’t take that as an indication of the sound quality. The camera just doesn’t like the bass! The sound was fantastic (spot on Gerry!)… the atmosphere was electric. Dan is the Man.

There was lots more good footage but it’s best to keep it short here as the sound quality does not do it justice. A good idea maybe would be to turn down the video sound and listen to a better audio recording by Dan over it. I also took a small number of photos, the best of which is above, check out the rest on my flickr.

So here’s the video…


Ddcuts
Uploaded by itison

and the music video for Crystal Cat…

Nialler9 has posted about both shows, so head on over there and check out his reviews and some courtesy mp3s.
There is a great interview / podcast over at The Sound Of Young America that you should check out too

ok oh!

I like this. A lot of people won’t! Turning off the telly in crowds during soccer matches!


http://view.break.com/387953 – Watch more free videos